Researched
Cardiac pacemaker
In 1958 a pacemaker built by Rune Elmqvist was implanted by Åke Senning in Stockholm, the first device to keep a heart beating from inside the body.
Open in the interactive tree →Patient Arne Larsson received 26 pacemakers over his life and died in 2001 aged 86. Open-heart surgery had created demand for pacing, transistors and better batteries made implants practical, and millions of people now carry one.
Prerequisites
- Electrocardiogram1903
- Transistor1947
- Heart-lung machine1953
Unlocks
- Neuroprostheses and DBS1987Implanted stimulators for the brain adapted the pacemaker's pulse generator and battery